 Speaker of the House – the presiding officer of the House of Rep., selected from the membership.  Floor Leader – A spokesperson for a party in Congress; one who directs party decisions and strategy  Majority leader – the legislative leader of the party holding the majority of seats in the House or Senate.  Minority Leader – the legislative leader and spokesperson for the party holding the minority of the seats in the House or Senate  Whip – a senator or representative who works with party leaders to communicate views, solicit support before votes are taken and keep track of how voting is likely to go

 Power in the House tends to be centralized in the hands of its leaders because membership is larger than it is in the Senate  The leaders of the House are as follows: The Speaker of the House, the two Floor Leaders, and two assistant leaders or whips  The Speaker of the House is always a member of the majority party and is often the most powerful member of Congress  The Speaker rules on questions of parliamentary procedure, influences committee assignments, channels bills, appoints party leaders, and presides over many House debates

 The Speaker must call on a member in order for them to speak  The majority leader is the Speaker’s top assistant  The minority leader heads and organizes the opposition to the majority party  Both the majority and minority are assisted by whips  Whips inform members of upcoming votes on bills, count numbers of expected votes, and pressure members to support the leadership in critical votes  Few votes are called for without the leadership knowing what the outcome will be

 The president of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States, but has little authority  Because the VP doesn’t attend session often enough, a president pro tempore – a leading or senior member of the majority party – is selected to reside  The role of president is largely ceremonial and lacks real power  The floor leaders hold the real leadership power in the Senate, although it’s much less centralized than in the House

 The majority leader is often the most influential and has the privilege of speaking first on the floor  Majority leaders and minority leaders consult with each other to set agenda  The minority leader’s power often resides in how well he gets along with the majority leader  The Senate also has party whips to assist  Senators are less tied to party and more independent in the way they vote